Dragon’s Song

He who says that a dragon is singing in the dry woods

Is he who truly sees Tao.

The skull has no consciousness,

But wisdom’s eye begins to shine in it.

If joy and consciousness should be eliminated,

The fluctuation and communication would cease.

Those who deny this do not understand

That purity is in the impure.

Ts’ao-shan

Original Teachins of Ch’an Buddhism

Translated by Chang Chung-Yuan

Pantheon Books, 1994